This sermon discusses the necessity of a submissive heart by men and women. And it focuses on God’s hierarchical structure for marriage with the structure being: God, Christ, man, women and children. It further explores that submission is a condition of heart and mind and the way we should become as we fulfill whatever role God has so generously give to each one of us.
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The title today is submission in marriage, submission in marriage, and subtitle our response to authority.
Not all that long ago, several months, I think, but that's not all that long ago, I gave a sermon on the administration of authority in marriage, and we identified two aspects of government. One, administration of authority, and two, response to authority. In Romans 13, in verse 1, if we will turn there to Romans 13, in verse 1, God shows about authority that He oftentimes places in authority the higher powers.
And I think we maybe take this too far at times, and not serious enough at other times.
Romans 13, in verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God the powers that are ordained of God. Let's focus on that word, ordained of God. In other words, God is the one who structured the authority that He's talking about, who, so ever therefore, resists the power, resists the ordinance of God, so He ordains, and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment. They will receive judgment.
So what powers are ordained of God? So we're focusing on the marriage relationship, and so God structures, according to scripture, the authority chain in marriage. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1. So God is the one who ordained the authority structure in marriage. It is a hierarchical structure. It is from the highest to the lowest.
Be followers of me. This is 1 Corinthians 11. Be followers of me, even as I am also Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances, see all powers ordained of God as I delivered them to you, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is a man, and the head of Christ is God. So if we go from highest to lowest, the head of Christ is God, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of woman is the husband. So it is God, Christ, the husband, the woman, and then the children. That is God's structure. It is hierarchical. It is the one in whom he has vested the authority. Now sometimes we might get the idea that God sets up every ruler that rules, but that is not the case. He does allow evil men to occupy certain offices at certain times. If you go now to Hosea chapter 8 and we'll start in verse 1, we'll see this very clearly that God doesn't ordain every last ruler that occupies an office. In Hosea 8.1, Set the trumpet to the mouth, he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law. Time after time, of course, you'll read in the Old Testament, New Testament as well, that because peoples of the world have transgressed against God's law, they are going to be judged eventually. Israel shall cry to me, my God, we know you. Israel has cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him.
They have set up kings, but not by me. You remember Nebuchadnezzar, he had to learn the hard way that God was the one that allowed him to occupy the office of the king of Babylon, because he went out one day and he began to brag on the things that his hands had built and then God turned him over to really to live the life of an animal for seven years. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made unto them idols that they may be cut off. So we see that God doesn't set up every last ruler that rules, but he does allow them to rule. And in some cases it is a test unto us. We need to always remember Acts 5.29. Acts 5.29 says that we ought to obey God and not man. We will refer to that principle several times throughout. We ought to obey God and not man.
So let's quickly review the administration of authority, which was contained in the last sermon. Realize it is God's authority, not yours. You must lay down your life in true agape that is spiritual love. Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it, in sacrificial love. You must be under the authority of Christ. You must be meek. What do I mean by meek? It is said of Moses that he was the meekest man on earth. And what does that mean? It means that when they came to Moses and said, I want you to lead my people out of slavery in Egypt, I want you to do that. I want you to bring them into the promised land. And Moses, what was his response? Moses' response was, who am I that should lead a people so great? I can't even really speak. And God answered and says, well, I will give Aaron for you for you to speak for you. So that's you that excuse is already dealt with.
So you have to be meek as Moses was meek. Who am I? Who am I to lead a family? Who am I to lead a wife? Who am I to be over a wife and children? You must respect your subjects, your wife and children. You must not deal harshly. And you must provide spiritual and physical nourishment. That spiritual leadership, headship, means setting the direction and charting the course for your family. Now I'm going to quote, if you want to, you can turn to Joshua 24 and verse 15. Remember after Moses' death, because he struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock, that he was not allowed to go into the promised land. And God raised up Joshua, ordained him, and he led Israel into the promised land. And after they got into the promised land, Joshua called for all the elders and peoples of the land to come together, and he said the following. Joshua 24 verse 15. And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so he did. Joshua served the Lord, and that is the challenge for each man today and each husband to serve the Lord. So today I want us to consider, and we'll also consider response to authority, I want us to consider response to authority. And also, we will also keep in mind the administration of authority.
Our response to authority, we could call it obedience, but there is a word that I believe goes beyond obedience. Obedience is necessary, and basically everything, it is a beginning step. Obedience can be mechanical. It can take place without your heart really being in it. You said, you can say, oh well, I'll go and do that, or whatever it is. So obedience can be mechanical and not from the heart, but there is a word that includes obedience and goes beyond obedience. Obedience and that word encapsulates the heart as well, and it is submission.
We can use the analogy of loyalty and honesty. You can be honest, but necessarily you couldn't. That doesn't mean that you're necessarily loyalty. Loyalty goes beyond honesty. It is an extension of honesty, just as submission is an extension of obedience. Submission is an extension of obedience. Christ wants us to respond from the heart, from the depth of our very being. Not just the intellect. Intellectual assent to the truth is from the devil on up. Remember, it says in James chapter 2 that the devils believe and tremble, but they will not obey, and neither will they submit. So it has to go far beyond just the intellectual assent to the truth. He wants us to do what we do because we are that way. God is what he does. God is love. God is righteous. God is light. God is truth and much more. Many other characteristics and qualities of God could be enumerated. It includes the ultimate understanding that God is our defense. That is submission. It is the understanding of who your Lord and Master really is. God is your defense. You will not fear what flesh can do to you because you know in the ultimate sense your submission to God, your submission is to God and not to man.
In Ephesians chapter 5, we will turn there to Ephesians chapter 5.
We will see in Ephesians chapter 5 the much quoted verses here. In Ephesians 5 and verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
We also should read verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your husband. How? How do you submit unto your husband as unto the Lord? Because ultimately this submission is to God and not to man.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto God, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything.
We can highlight in everything.
As far as spiritual potential, man and woman have the same spiritual potential in the sense that in the kingdom of God, as we were noted in the sermonette, that God is not a respecter of persons. He wants all people to come to the knowledge of God and Christ and to salvation and immortality. God is the one that we're serving in the ultimate sense. So the husband is ahead of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. It was sacrificial love. He was willing to lay down his very life that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the Word. That he might present the church to the Father as a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing. It should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself also. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. And husband and wife become one and coitus as well. They are of one flesh, and no man yet ever hated his own body. If you hate your wife, of course, you are hating your own body because even in the ordaining of marriage, it says, let the husbands leave their parents and let them clean or cleave to their wives, and the twain shall become one flesh. So once again, God is what he does, and what he does is what he is. So we see here that we're to submit one to another as in verse 21, verse 22, wives, submit yourselves to your husband. Now this part about submission continues in Ephesians chapter 6, the first verse.
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise that it may be well with you, that you may live long on the earth. So obedience to parents has a promise of longevity contained with it, and we are to obey and do what we do, as we've already noted and we'll note several times that we are serving God in the ultimate sense and not man. Do it from the heart. Let's look at Ephesians 6.5.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to man. So we are to do what the Bible says to do, as if we are serving God in all things, as He has commanded us to do.
One can only understand what true faith is by being in submission and trusting God for deliverance. The example of Abraham and Isaac. When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only begotten son, that is Isaac. And just before the knife came down to slay Isaac, God intervened and stopped his hand, and he provided a ram caught in the thicket. See, God is our provider. He is our protector. He will take care of us, as we shall see. So we see that, of course, faith is a vital part of deliverance, it's a vital part of the salvation process. We learn the mind of Christ when we put on Christ through internalizing submission. Now we go to 1 Peter 2 and verse 19. And here we see an understanding with regard to grace and submission that probably is very seldom taught, or very seldom do you even realize it, in 1 Peter 2 and verse 19. Well, let's start in verse 17. 1 Peter 2, verse 17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Service be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For it is thank worthy. Yes, what that Greek word is, is translated thank worthy there. It is grace. It is carous in the Greek. For this is grace with God. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it when you be buffeted for your faults and you take it patiently, but when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is, guess what that Greek word is, for accepted translated, acceptable. It is carous in the Greek. It is this is grace with God. In other words, this is divine favor when you do this. For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was revile, revile not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. So we see very clearly from Scripture what we are supposed to do. The key is to keep the big picture always burning in our minds of what life is all about. We have been called to salvation, to glory, to honor, to immortality, which the rest of the world at this present time has not been called to. The big picture is to keep the kingdom of God burning brightly in your mind, that that is the goal. If we do not seek unto immortality, we have failed, because we will be cast in the lake of fire. The submission is to God, not to man, not as eye-pleasers as unto men, but unto God.
So that is the reason we were born. We were born to become members of the family of God. Is it success as measured by the world? No, it's not success as measured by the world. Now we're getting to the motive of why you are in the church.
Are you in the church for salvation, seeking immortality, glory, honor? Are you in the church to escape the wages of sin? The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, as it says in Romans 6, 23. The Apostle Paul writes to those who are seeking honor and glory and immortality, and Mr. Lucas read that in the sermonette. The age-old question that many ask, won't man take advantage of your submission? No, because God is the ultimate judge, and even though you may suffer in the interim, God is the ultimate deliverer. It is Christ's responsibility and our responsibility. Christ kept His Father's commandments. Christ gave us commandment as to how we should conduct ourselves in marriage. Or, on the other hand, we could become a martyred myrtle, as I call it, thinking that playing the role of the victim is thank-worthy or grace with God. God does not want you or I or anyone to play the role of martyred myrtle. Some people try to provoke others by forcing them into the victim role. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of playing the victim's role, whether it be in the workplace, whether it be in the church, whether it be in marriage, wherever it is. Don't fall into the trap of playing the role of the victim.
Those who take advantage of your submission will be dealt with directly by Christ. We have the sheer promise of deliverance. Let's go to Romans 8.31. 8.31 is a scripture we probably should quote to ourselves every day as we live in this world of with so much going on and so much chaos, confusion, and havoc that we have to deal with in Romans 8.31. In Romans 8.31, what shall we say then to those things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Is God for you? Are you a child of God? Yes, you are a child of God. You are begotten of God. You can claim the promises that are given for being a child of God.
He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's leg? It is God that justifies. It is in the ultimate sense God who justifies you. So you don't have to fear what man can do to you. In fact, the scripture says, I will not fear what man can do. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, a brother that has risen again. Who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us? And in prayer, you think about that, that not only you are praying for your situation, but also God is praying for your situation, whatever it might be, whatever trial or difficulty you're facing. He is interceding for you. Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written, for your sake we were killed all the day long. We were counted as sheep for the slaughter. See, we already had the death penalty on us when we came into the knowledge of God and Christ and salvation and being convicted of our sins. We repented, exercised faith in the sacrifice of Christ, been baptized, received the laying on of hands, been begotten by the Spirit of God. See, anything we get above death is a gift. You're counted all the day long for the slaughter, just like sheep are lined up for the slaughter or cattle. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. So we don't have to fear or worry about man taking advantage of us when we do submit. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present or things that come nor height nor depth nor any other creature or creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The bottom line is when all is said and done, God is our deliverer. Remember Romans 828. When it's Romans 828, it says, all things work together for those who are called of God according to His purpose. All things work together. And Hebrews 11.6, which I quote in basically every sermon, is that He who would come to God must first of all believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So if you truly submit from the heart what is the message? God will fight your battles for you. Those who slaughter the sheep will fall into the hands of the living God.
And Hebrews 11.31 says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 11 verse 31. God is our defense. He will deliver us. Submission according to the Word of God makes God your defender. Submission according to the Word of God makes God your defender. Submission is not a matter of mere outward form. As we have noted, true submission is an attitude, a frame of mind, a way of life, an understanding of who our Lord and Master is. It is an understanding that God is your defense, as we have seen from Scripture, your judge, your deliverer. You will not fear what flesh can do to you because you know that your submission is to God and not to man. And at the same time, you must realize, don't become too dependent on another person to make you happy. If you expect another person to make you happy, you will be endlessly disappointed. At times, I'm going to let you down, your wife's going to let you down, your husband's going to let you down, your children's going to let you down, and so on we could go that at times we are disappointed by the behavior of others and may be prone to say, oh, if so-and-so would be just do such-and-such, I would be so happy. And one of the aspects of dependency is that it tends to make you be concerned or make you unconcerned with spiritual growth. We want to grow spiritually. So if you expect another person to make you happy, you'll be endlessly disappointed. Dependency tends to bind one from the big picture, their reason for being. Why are we here? Why are you in the church? Why did you come to the point that you were convicted of sin and you were pented and you were baptized and you had hands laid on you? Because you wanted death penalty removed and you were experienced in laying on of hands and receiving God's Spirit and you had a new knowing, a new conscience within your being.
But the Bible talks about the offering of bulls and ghosts can never bring one to the offering of bulls and ghosts. But when you are begotten by the Spirit and the Word of God, then you have a new knowing within. You can consult the Bible. You can consult one who is thoroughly converted and you can get help. You can get counsel. You can get guidance.
Dependency tends to blind one from the big picture. Dependent people have an addictive personality. They are interested in their own nourishment. No more. They decide they desire to be filled and they desire to be happy. And they approach life as if it depended on others. As noted earlier, if there is a conflict between the law of God and what the Bible says, you have to draw the line. Once again, Acts 5.29, that we should obey God and not man. Once again, true submission is to God, not to man, because God ordained the authority and submission structure.
I read 1 Corinthians 11, the first four verses, that God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of man. Man is the head of woman. Woman, parents are the head of children. And we're doing this for God's sake. We serve God and to honor Him, let everything be done to the glory of God. And if a dispute or something comes up, wives must exercise all steps of reconciliation.
Now we come back to the martyred myrtle victim role that some tend to play. Oh, the Bible says submit, so I will just let this roll and you become more and more miserable as time goes on. If a problem arises, husbands should take the lead. But in my experience in the ministry for almost 50 years, that is oftentimes the wife. If there is a problem that is not solved, it is the wife who makes the first step and brings it to the ministry or to the church to get help.
So just because the Bible says that we should submit doesn't mean that you don't follow the rules of reconciliation. We should all be reconciled one to another and practice that rule that is given in Ephesians 4. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Be reconciled, especially with your maid. The maid is generally the one that you can be reconciled to do.
It may be that the neighbor lives in another state or somewhere not accessible immediately. So you have to be reconciled. The Bible says, blessed are the peacemakers. Let's go to Matthew 5 there, and we'll see from Scripture the scriptural basis for what I've just said. In Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9. In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9. Blessed are they which blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Some people, it seems, delight in getting under the being the bur and under the saddle of certain people, but God expects us to be peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. They'll be called the children of God. We know further in verse 22, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Rehka, that is, you fool, shall be in danger of the counsel, that is, Sanhedrin, the judge of religious and civil affairs in Israel.
Of course, the Romans occupied Israel during the time of Jesus Christ, but whosoever shall say you fool shall be in danger of Gehenna fire. Therefore, the key point, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, where to offer up spiritual sacrifices and prayer is considered one of the main spiritual sacrifices. So if you come before God to pray, and there remember that your brother has ought against you, leave therefore your gift before the altar.
Go your way, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Now, is your is your husband, is your wife, your brother, your sister, and the Lord? Of course they are. And so the charity begins at home. The word neighbor is from the word nigh, the one that is nearest to you.
Who is the nearest to you? Well, your mate is nearest to you. So be reconciled. Be as one. Walk together in agreement. Agree with your adversary quickly while you are in the way. Agree with him less than any time. The adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you shall be cast in the prison. So so many disputes, of course, could be solved if people would simply follow the biblical injunctions regarding reconciliation.
We are ministers of reconciliation, as it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, that God has committed unto us the duty of reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation.
So all of this, of course, requires spiritual courage.
It is the inner person that is doing the action. So let's look at 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 1.
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles, of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust. That is 2 Peter. I want 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 1. Like wives, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. We already read this from Ephesians chapter 5. Be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conduct of the wives. It goes back to, I can't hear what you say because of what you do. While they behold your chaste conduct, coupled with fear, whose adorning let it not be of the outward adorning, planting of the hair and wearing gold or a pudding on an apparel, but it let it be the hidden person of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. For this manner, in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God, adorned themselves being in subjection to their own husband, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. We're not to walk on eggshells. We're not to be afraid. We are to follow the scripture. If there is a problem, pursue peacemaking. Pursue reconciliation. Now, let's distinguish between submission and servitude. Marriage is not master-slave relationship. I've already touched on this. Because you're to be in submission, wives, it does not mean that you are a slave. That you're to follow what the Bible says in reconciliation with the brotherhood, as we read from Matthew 5. If you come to offer your gift and realize there's something between you and your mate, go be reconciled and then offer your gift, and for that matter, for anyone, if there is a problem.
Women are subject to physical attack, even by their children, by neighbors, by others in society in general. One of the great problems that exists in the world today, and you hear about it so often while we arrested so-and-so for rape or for sexual misconduct. Although you have volunteered to be Christ's servant, he does not treat us as slaves. He treats us as friends and brothers and sisters. Let's go to John 1513, John 1513, where Christ states clearly that he calls us friends, and even though we are to be in subjection to him. In 1513, greater love had no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Christ gave everything he could give, sacrificial love, so that we might live. And so we, it is no big thing in one sense if we lay down our lives to love our wives as Christ gave commandment, and to love and the wives to be in subjection as Christ gave commandment. Jesus Christ has taken on the role now of being the, not only the begotten Son of God, he is the born Son of God. I'm not going to turn to Romans 1, verse 4, verses to prove that. But I want us to go now to Hebrews 2, verse 11, that Jesus Christ is now in the role of our elder brother, and sometimes we use that.
At times at first when I heard that, I thought maybe, well, that's dishonoring Christ, called him our elder brother. He is our elder brother because we go through the same process that he goes through, or that he went through in becoming the born Son of God, not just the first begotten Son. In verse 11, I'm in the wrong chapter again, in Hebrews 2, verse 11. In Hebrews 2, verse 11, For both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one, are all of one. What is that one? We're all of the same spirit. The same spirit that is in God is in Christ as in us. Ephesians 2.
6 says there is one. I know it's Ephesians 4 says, there is one spirit. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. We are begotten of the same spirit. If we are begotten by the same spirit as God in Christ, we are children of God, and Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead, so he is our elder brother. Saying I will declare your name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto you.
So even though we volunteer, Christ does not treat us as enemies or foreigners or whatever. He even says he is our brother in the hierarchy of things in the spiritual realm. Paul gives further instructions with regard to submission in Colossians 3 and verse 18. Let's go there. Colossians 3 and verse 18. There are so many places with regard to obedience and submission. We couldn't read them all, and it just appears in one place. A lot of people say, well, the Bible only mentions this in one place. It does mention it, but this, what we're talking about, is in far more than one place. So what we have here in Colossians chapter 3, and we'll begin in verse 12.
Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also forgive them. Above all things, put on charity love, agape, which is spiritual love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, through the which you are called in one body, and be you thankful. Let the word of God dwell in you. So we come down now to verse 17. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Wives, there it is again, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. So those things are basically the message that are repeated at least three times in the scripture. One of the things that some people have difficulty with, with regard to respect of persons and so on, it has to do with what God expects from all of us, and that is being conformity with what He says. And if you submit properly, as Christ gives commandment, then God will serve as your protector. Therefore, for some reason, God has chosen hair to be a sign. It has to be a sign between God and man with regard to subjection. In 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 10, where this caused the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man and the Lord. Or as a woman is of the man, even so is a man also of the woman, but all things are of God. Judge yourselves. Is it calmly that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? So you have all these pictures of Christ with long hair and a beard in Scripture. Perhaps He had a beard, but I doubt that He had long hair because Paul writes this. But if a woman have long hair, it is glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering. That has to do with understanding that she is, as long as she is in subjection, she has protection from man and from God. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom neither the churches of God. Now this I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together for better, but for worse, and then He gives instructions for keeping the Passover. So you come to see over and over again how vital the Scriptures are and just about anything you want to name.
All of us have tremendous responsibility and challenging in administering God's government in our lives and modeling the roles that God so graciously has assigned to each one of us. Of course, the world has basically, in the Western world especially, has turned the gender roles upside down. The young women are taught, oh you can be just like the men, you can serve in the army, you can be the head of a corporation, you can do this, you can do that, and so they can. It would be possible to do it, but is that the main role? You know how much flack that Charlie Kirk's words were was about saying that women should get married and have children and so on, and so they, after he learned what the Bible had to say, he and his wife had children and he left two precious children behind.
So all of us have a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous role. Gender blending is one of the great cultural causes for the explosion of effeminescy and homosexuality in our society. So we must exercise authority properly and we must admit properly. Remember children, when it comes to human relations and family rules, I've said this going back for 50 years when teaching and preaching in this area, children learn method and not content. Now they learn some content, but they can learn methodology. The children of alcoholics are prone to be alcoholics. The children of wife abusers tend to abuse their wives. The daughters of those those wives who do not submit tend to raise daughters that do not submit. So the children tend to learn method and not content. Oh, they may learn some content, but the methodology overpowers, generally speaking. The exercise of authority and the response to authority must become a way of life, not just something that we do by rope, not just some kind of mechanical action, but from the heart. Both must become what you are, not just what you do, for God looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance. And we need to keep in mind the basic principles of exercising authority in the family and the basic rules for exercising submission. Submission is an attitude, a frame of mind, a way of life, an understanding of who your Lord and Master is, and understanding that God is your defense, your judge, your deliverer. You will not fear what flesh can do to you because you know that your submission is to God and not man. God wants us to respond from the heart, not just from the intellect. Everything that I've said here today, basically, you already know. But everything that I've said here today is not necessarily what all of us have practiced through the years. We have an opportunity to become as God wants us to become. No pretense or ulterior motives with God. So if we will begin to administer authority and submission as Christ teaches us, our lives, our marriages will be much more complete, and we will reflect much more the love, the joy, and peace of being a child of God.
Before his retirement in 2021, Dr. Donald Ward pastored churches in Texas and Louisiana, and taught at Ambassador Bible College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also served as chairman of the Council of Elders of the United Church of God. He holds a BS degree; a BA in theology; a MS degree; a doctor’s degree in education from East Texas State University; and has completed 18 hours of graduate theology from SMU.